Content distribution services have been developed by cable content providers and distributors in an attempt to compete with an emerging market trend called “cord cutting,” wherein consumers discontinue traditional pay television subscriptions for programming delivered via legacy satellite or cable systems, in favor of accessing TV content through over-the-air television and/or online subscription services, for example Hulu, Netflix, or YouTube. These content distribution services, promoted as “TV Everywhere,” include authenticated streaming and video-on-demand services that allow traditional television providers such as cable television system operators (now known as Multichannel Video Programming Distributors or MVPD's) to compete directly with such alternative wireless or Internet providers with the goal of retaining better-paying subscribers.
Cable content providers have marketed the use of such “TV Everywhere” services to allow multiplatform access to their content on devices such as personal computers, smart phones, tablets, and other devices. However, the most profitable content product to distribute remains the first release, in high definition, of a Hollywood movie delivered to a consumer on a pay-per-view or pay-per-day basis as early as possible in the movie's digital release window. While highly profitable, such popular content is a prime target for piracy and theft. To mitigate those risks, content owners require highly-robust digital-rights management (DRM) safeguards to ensure that the specific device requesting the content is authorized to view the content before allowing any device to decode and play the de-encrypted digital file containing such content.
Digital-rights management software that is robust enough to be trusted by movie studios and other owners of high-value content is complex and computationally intensive. Such commercial DRM products may include, by way of example only, “PlayReady” from Microsoft Corporation or “WideVine” from Alphabet Inc.'s Google division. Personal computers (PCs) and tablets typically contain the processor speed to process these complex security measures. DRM applications have also been devised that will run on some smartphones environments. However, the typical MVPD-supplied legacy set-top box (STB) is generally incapable of running the specific DRM application environment that may be required by the content owner, because such an STB lacks adequate computational power. So, instead of the MVPD's encouraging their subscribers to purchase access to first release, high-definition entertainment products from them, those potential customers are inadvertently directed toward competitive offerings delivered over the Internet instead of the MVPD's content distribution system.